History and Philosophy of Sport and Physical Activity

R. Scott Kretchmar, PhD, is a professor emeritus of exercise and sport science at Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. Kretchmar, a fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK), is the recipient of its Hetherington Award. He is a former president of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport and previously served as editor of the Journal of the Philosophy of Sport. He has been named an Alliance Scholar by SHAPE America (Society of Health and Physical Educators) and a Distinguished Scholar by the National Association for Kinesiology and Physical Education in Higher Education (NAKPEHE). Mark Dyreson, PhD, is a professor of kinesiology and an affiliate professor of history at Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. Dyreson currently serves on the executive committee of the Penn State Center for the Study of Sports in Society. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK), a former president of the North American Society for Sport History (NASSH), a special projects editor for the International Journal of the History of Sport, and the coeditor of the Sport in the Global Society: Historical Perspectives book series (Routledge Press). Matthew P. Llewellyn, PhD, is a professor of kinesiology at California State University at Fullerton and is codirector of the Center for Sociocultural Sport and Olympic Research. Llewellyn earned a PhD in historical and philosophical aspects of sport and physical activity at Pennsylvania State University. He is the current editor of the Journal of Olympic Studies and is the author of four books and over 30 scholarly articles on the history of sport and physical activity. John Gleaves, PhD, is a professor of kinesiology at California State University at Fullerton. Gleaves served as codirector of the International Network of Doping Research and is a codirector and cofounder of the Center for Sociocultural Sport and Olympic Research. He is also the associate editor for Performance Enhancement and Health and the Journal of Olympic Studies. His research and teaching focus on applied ethics and cultural history related to sport, physical activity, and society. Gleaves’ research has won several awards, including a Brocher Foundation fellowship.

Introduction: History, Philosophy, and Kinesiology
The Evolution of Kinesiology
The Humanities and the Sciences
The Nature of History and Philosophy
The Subject Matter of Kinesiology

Chapter 1. Bodies, Brains, and Cultures
Making Sense of Our Story
Developing a Brief Chronology of Our Story
Great Leaps Forward
Patterns of Culture in Hunter-Forager Societies
The Origins of Sport
The Complexities of Work and Play in Hunting and Foraging Societies

Chapter 2. The Transition From Super Endurance Predators to Farmers
A Revolution in How We Lived
The Impact of the Neolithic Revolution on Human Vigor and Health
Physical Activity as a Tool and as a Jewel
The Difficulties of Interpreting Ancient Sporting Cultures
A Model of Traditional Sport

Chapter 3. Ancient Greece and the Shape of Modern Sport and Physical Education
The Foundation of Western Civilization
Myth, Religion, and the Origins of Greek Physical Culture
The Birth of Philosophy
The Ancient Sporting Festivals
The Olympic Games
Greek Sporting Culture
Sources of Evidence for Ancient Greek Sport
Greek Recreation and Physical Education

Chapter 4. Continuity and Change in Physical Cultures
Monuments to Sporting Spectacles
Comparing Mesoamerican and Roman Spectacles of Blood
Opposition to Gladiatorial Contests
The Ethics of Brutality in Sport
Contrast and Continuity
The Enduring Martial Traditions
Religious and Intellectual Opposition to Martial Sports
Similarities and Differences Between Eastern and Western Sport
Global Continuities and Contrasts

Chapter 5. The Expansion of the West and the Birth of the Modern World
The Birth of the “Modern World”
The Renaissance, Neoclassical Revivals of Sport, and the “Nature of Man”
The Emergence of “Modern” Debates on Human Nature
The Protestant Reformation and Sport, Physical Education, and the Body
The Scientific Revolution and Modern Attitudes Toward Sport, Physical Education, and the Body

Chapter 6. Great Britain and the Birth of Modern Sport
Sport as a Critical Modern Institution
The Rationalization of Ethics Under Utilitarianism
Rationalization and Gambling
Games for the Common Folk
The Rationalization of Fair Play

Chapter 7. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
The Emergence of Modern Sport
Liberty, Equality, and Morality
The Role of Fraternity in Modern Sport
Fraternity, Partisanship, and Spectatorship
Fraternity, Partisanship, and Commercialism

Chapter 8. Games and Empires
The Paradoxical Power of Sport
Conquest, Colonialism, and the Spread of Western Sport
Sport in Its Best Light
The Subaltern Dilemma
Sport as a Revolutionary Force
Sport, Colonialism, and American Imperialism

Chapter 9. The Rise of International Sportsworlds
Reviving the Olympic Games
Olympic Growing Pains
Social Exclusion and Other Harsh Realities of the Early Olympics
The Globalization of Modern Sport
Sport in Black and White and Technicolor
The Ethics of Commercialism

Chapter 10. The West and the Rest
Traditional and Indigenous Sport in an Age of Modernity
Western Appropriations of Eastern Muses
The Effectiveness of Folk Psychology and Folk Medicine
Encounters With the “Other”
Holistic Kinesiology
The Emergence of Countercultural Movement Practices

Chapter 11. The Golden Age of Modern Sport
Phenomenology
Cold War Sport
Modern Science and Sport
The Ethics of Performance Enhancement
Breaking Gender Barriers
Beyond the Gender Binary
The Cold War and the Politics of Race in American Sport
The Global Dimensions of Race and Sport
Sport in Living Color

Chapter 12. Snapshots From Our Times
Do Global Connections Create Global Identities?
Global Consumer Culture
The Emergence of New Global Forms